Lost in Translation: Networks of (In)Communication in the Consultation of the Maya Communities on the Sowing of Transgenic Soy in Mexico

Abstract

In Mexico as well as in other Latin American countries, prior consultation has become, in the last two decades, a mechanism of citizen participation that aims to allow the incidence of historically marginalized indigenous groups to make decisions about their own socioeconomic development. In this article we analyze the (in)communication networks deployed during the process of consulting Maya communities in a municipality of Campeche on the genetically modified soybean that is being carried out (2017) by a Mexican government agency responsible for biosecurity. Our analysis will focus on the communication possibilities that the members of these communities establish with each other and with other actors, among them the activists of civil society organizations and officials of different government agencies, as well as the misunderstandings that arise in this process. We are particularly interested in describing the language games that lead to misunderstandings in order to highlight the historical relations of power and inequality that largely determine the outcome and results of prior consultation in Mexico.